Film studies assignment 3

The Auteur as a filmmaker.

Film Studies Assignment three

By Kelly Cantrell.

(427 words)

The films of Alfred Hitchcock often deal with themes that he as a film director may feel reflect his own personal concerns, such as themes of jealousy, obsession and femme fatale women.

Hitchcock’s films often feature similar looking women, often with blonde hair, that may be pinned up for the first half of the film and then may become looser and looser until it reaches the point that the hair is worn loose, this may be symbolic for female sexual liberation or the insinuation of seduction and femme fatale connotations creeping into the narrative structure.

There is also a lot of repetition to be seen in Hitchcock films, places are shown several times or more either in dream format or real-time. Alongside this Hitchcock films embody themes of fear, lack of control and powerlessness, this is apparent in the characters that James stewart plays in both “Vertigo” and “rear window”, in Rear window the lead character is rendered powerless and feels isolated and powerless as he is confined to a wheelchair in his room, and the character he plays in Vertigo has a fear of heights that leads to vertigo and a lack of control when placed in a situation in which he is face to face with his fear.

These themes of being watched, as in rear window and psycho, being followed as in vertigo, the themes of jealousy, fear and powerlessness, along with the lead characters state of mind often in question are what make an Alfred Hitchcock film identifiable and recognisable as a Hitchcock film, these films and similar films have also been coined as “Hitchcockian” for the similarities in atmosphere, narrative structure and themes.

Hitchcocks films therefore feel as though they are a personal extension of his own persona as they do not follow a set formula of conventions of typical genre films, the same can also be said for director/producer Tim burton who again makes films that reflect his own personality and thought process, when you see a Tim Burton film you instantly know it’s a Tim Burton film as you can see, hear and feel his own personal stamp on each film even though each film may be entirely different in terms of story, casting, setting etc.

The recurrent themes and stylistic qualities of the Auteur as a film maker directly influence our perception of genre and play on the psyche, ignoring typical conventions and genres in favour of the directors own personal and often unique ideas and perceptions.